The Emerging Leaders Program

What Is the Emerging Leaders Program?

Emerging Leaders began in 2007 as one of ALA Immediate Past President Leslie Burger’s six initiatives. The Emerging Leaders program enables newer librarians from across the country to participate in problem-solving workgroups; network with peers; gain an inside look into ALA structure, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity. It puts them on the fast track to ALA and professional leadership.

For more information, contact Beatrice Calvin, Program Officer, ALA Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment.

How Are Emerging Leaders Chosen?

The selection committees seek diversity based on geography, gender, ethnicity and type of library. They pay particular attention to, and value candidates' statements as well as those of their references.

Midwinter Events

Friday, January 11, 2008 Registration, coffee and sign in at 8:30 AM
9:00am - 5:00pm - Workshop for 2008 participants (Agenda will be posted at a later date.) This is the main event for ELs in Philadelphia. Project groups may make arrangements to meet with ALA staff and/or mentors during other times at Midwinter.

2007 Emerging Leaders Program Information

EL’07 kicked off at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle and will culminate at the 2007 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. EL'07 has been providing 116 new librarians with training and projects to jump-start their leadership in ALA and the profession. New leaders are expected to put their leadership skills to use by accepting a term of service on an ALA or chapter committee, task force, working group, or project team.

Our second session begins with coffee at 8:30. From 9-12 Maureen Sullivan will lead a discussion on Collaboration and Working with Teams, Dealing with Conflict, and Ethics; From noon to 2 PM teams will eat lunch and assemble their posters; At 2 PM Connie Paul will lead the wrap-up and introduce the evaluation; From 3-5 PM teams present their projects to each other and to sponsors, mentors and other ALA community members. Participants, sponsors and mentors are invited to a late night reception on Saturday.

The link above takes you to more information on the individual projects.

How Were 2007 Emerging Leaders Chosen?

Sponsored applicants were selected by their sponsoring organization and guaranteed a spot in the program. A selection committee representing all types of libraries read the remaining applications and chose another 50 participants.

Handouts from Seattle, WA Midwinter Meeting

A wiki page for ELs to submit questions and answers to one another about any aspect of their projects or the program in general.

Tools for Projects

Project Management Software - If you are looking for software to pull together timelines, tasks, and group chat features, a great resource is a free account from BaseCamp.

ALA's own Online Communities is a virtual workplace open to all ALA Members. You can request a community and set it up with chat, forums, announcements, and more. Visit http://communities.ala.org, and login with your ALA website login (usually your member number) and website password. Not sure what they are or want them changed? Call ALA Member and Customer Service at 1-800-545-2433, press 5 to get MACS, and then 4 to update your profile. To bypass the learning curve involved in setting up a new community, request administrator training from Louise Gruenberg, ALA's e-learning instructional designer.